Rep. Dylan Fernandes, a Falmouth Democrat, declared victory over Rep. Matt Muratore, a Plymouth Republican, in a race for a South Shore and Cape Cod Senate seat that has seen the two candidates collectively spend hundreds of thousands of dollars ahead of Tuesday’s election.
Fernandes’ expected win keeps the district in Democratic control and delivers a setback to the Massachusetts Republican Party, which had targeted the race as one of their best opportunities to flip a Senate seat and expand its super-minority caucus in the chamber.
In a phone call with the Herald just before midnight, Fernandes said Muratore had called to concede the race and that the two men had a “really good and thoughtful conversation.”
“It is just an honor to represent this district and our campaign and our team worked incredibly hard to get us to where we are and knocked on over 30,000 doors,” Fernandes said. “This campaign became a movement so much bigger than myself focused on affordability, protecting the environment, addressing mental health, and protecting women’s reproductive freedoms.”
Results from the Associated Press last updated just before 11:50 p.m. showed Fernandes leading with 20,147 votes compared to Muratore’s 13,342 with only 26% of precincts reporting.
In a statement to the Herald, Muratore said he is “proud of the race we ran.”
“We’re still looking over the numbers, but it appears that we outran the top of the ticket considerably, despite a high rate of voters blanking the race,” he said. “We’re grateful for the support our campaign received and serving Plymouth in the state Legislature remains the honor of my lifetime.”
The race for the seat — which covers Bourne, Falmouth, Kingston, Mashpee, Pembroke, Plymouth, Plympton, and Sandwich — kicked off after incumbent Sen. Susan Moran, a Falmouth Democrat, said she would not seek reelection to the Legislature.
Moran, a third-term senator, instead decided to run for Barnstable County Clerk of Courts, a decision that quickly drew candidates to the race.
Like most local Republicans running for legislative seats this year, Muratore has focused his messaging on immigration and the state’s decades-old right-to-shelter law. The statute guarantees housing to pregnant women and families with children and has since come to cover migrants.
State spending on the emergency shelter system has skyrocketed over the past year amid an influx of migrants to Massachusetts. Gov. Maura Healey’s administration has said it expects to spend more than $1 billion in each of the next several fiscal years on the state-run shelter system.
Fernandes, who has drawn Healey’s support, has said his top issues include women’s rights, substance misuse, climate change, mental health, housing, and holding accountable the company decommissioning the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.
He was also key to coordinating services for a group of migrants shipped to Martha’s Vineyard in September 2022 at the behest of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a move that Democrats have labeled as a political stunt and has since prompted a federal lawsuit.
Both candidates drew the backing of super PACs, or independent spending committees that can raise and spend with no limits so long as they do not directly coordinate with candidates.
The race has also seen each candidate raise mounds of cash.
Muratore pulled in more than $139,000 and spent upwards of $148,000 this year, according to campaign finance filings last updated Oct. 31. Fernandes raised $315,000 and spent $362,000 during the same period, state data shows.
MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale said Fernandes’ expected win is largely because of the amount of money that flowed into his campaign.
“The amount of money that was spent in that race was really overwhelming, for sure,” she told the Herald. “If it turns out that Matt’s not successful, I think it’s largely as a result of our Republican candidate being outspent.”